Triassic-Jurassic Mass Extinctions and the Rise of the Dinosaurs

The existence and extinction of dinosaurs have been one of the great mysteries that science endeared itself to solve . Long before men ‘s existence became documented , at around 235 million years ago the dinosaurs evolved as the dominant specie that ruled the entire planet Sixty-five million years or so later they vanished or may have evolved into another life form . One cannot just claim the extinction of natural specie or propagate another possibility without having knowledge on how it [banner_entry_middle]

evolved . The forces that contributed to specie ‘s disappearance could relatively help discover man ‘s volatile life . Likewise science needs to indoctrinate a theory to give an authoritative and proportionate answer that could probably help man in his quest for life and continuity If we look at the prehistoric facts , the dinosaurs lived during an era when prehistoric reptile ruled the planet . They dominated the Earth yet went extinct based on Paleontologists ‘ study . As land dwellers , they walked erect and had a hip structure that stick out from their bodies and were mostly bi-pedaled . Later , Childress provided that some dinosaurs groups returned to four-legged creatures having larger hind legs compared to the front legs . National Geographic (1993 ) also provided that there were different kinds of them which lived at different times within the Mesozoic Era . The dinosaurs have varied sizes but the usual ones that attract our attention are the larger carnivorous meat-eaters and the giant herbivores . National Geographic suggested that new evidence indicated that dinosaurs thrived in cooler temperate climates . Although some dinosaur species could regulate their body temperatures by an internal biological provision , records showed that certain dinosaurs survived in cooler regions . Skeletal structures also suggest that dinosaurs had active lifestyles as a vast number of them accounted for dog-sized species making up the bulk of the ecosystem By early Triassic period of the Mesozoic Era , plants and animals were the major life forms . Continents were all together in a super-continent called Pangaea which plates underneath pulled apart one another . The environment was conducive which saw the appearance of dinosaurs particularly archosaurs during the Late Triassic period with the start of the cycadoid conifer flora that replaced the Palezoic flora according to Czerkas (1992 . The climate was characterized by alternating mega monsoons and aridity (Gould (1989 . Gould also added that by the end of the Triassic period , the dinosaurs started inhabiting the Earth heavily Ciappe (1998 ) related that finds in Africa have showed the early presence of sauropods during the Late Triassic . Aquatic reptiles soon came into being with the fauna resources being established according to Czerkas By the Jurassic period , the climate and flora have favored animals with huge avian style lungs according to Czerkas (1992 . This was due to the low oxygen levels in the environment making it commendable for these types of animals to survive in the environment . The land was teaming with life and millions of plants with the oldest known angiosperms could be found . Insects , fish… [banner_entry_footer]